You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Hansard > Commons Debates > Commons Debates by date > Commons Debates - previous sessions > Bound Volume Hansard - Debate

 
24 Jun 2004 : Column 1433
 

House of Commons

Thursday 24 June 2004

The House met at half-past Eleven o'clock

PRAYERS

[Mr. Speaker in the Chair]

NEW WRIT

Ordered,

NEW WRIT

Ordered,

Oral Answers to Questions

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

The Secretary of State was asked—

Civil Servants

1. Mr. David Heath (Somerton and Frome) (LD): What plans she has to move civil servants (a) within her Department and (b) in agencies for which her Department has responsibility, presently based in London to rural areas of England. [180204]

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Margaret Beckett): Work is under way to evaluate how and where civil servants should be located to meet the business needs of the Department and its agencies. That work will complement the Lyons review on public sector relocation and the Gershon efficiency review.

Mr. Heath: I suppose that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will eventually give a response to the Haskins review and, indeed, the reviews that the right hon. Lady mentioned. Would it not be a splendid idea if it showed its commitment to rural areas by moving headquarters staff to, for instance, the west country, where staff might occasionally meet
 
24 Jun 2004 : Column 1434
 
dairy farmers, use rural bus services and experience the glories of wetland areas? If she wants a suitable site, I am happy to suggest Frome.

Margaret Beckett: I assure the hon. Gentleman that he is not the only person with ideas for places, including areas in the south-west, where staff could go. We hope to make an announcement soon on the Haskins review, and he will understand that I do not wish to anticipate discussion of any further decisions. We are, however, mindful of the fact that our Department has a high profile and that there is a strong need to provide services in rural areas.

Mr. David Kidney (Stafford) (Lab): Will my right hon. Friend accept my stronger bid? If Prue Leith succeeds in her plan for a visitor attraction, chefs' training centre and food hall in the Great British Kitchen at Stafford, would my right hon. Friend regard Stafford as sufficiently rural—[Interruption.] This is important. Does my right hon. Friend think that the synergies with the work of her Department are sufficiently strong for Stafford to be an excellent location for those civil servants?

Margaret Beckett: That is an interesting observation, and it reinforces my caution about giving advice about the decisions that will be made.

Mr. James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con): The Secretary of State boasts of her plans to redeploy staff to rural areas, but if all those plans were implemented, they would affect 673 jobs out of 31,000 in the DEFRA family. Is the Minister aware of the evidence that her permanent secretary, Sir Brian Bender, gave the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee last Wednesday, in which he said there was a policy of "deliberate churning" of DEFRA staff, which means that more than half of all senior civil servants are brand new to the job? Sir Brian went on to say that 49 per cent. of staff are proud to work for DEFRA. Will the Secretary of State tell us whether she is proud to be in charge of a Department that deliberately churns its staff, in the permanent secretary's expression, and where 51 per cent. of staff are apparently ashamed to work?

Margaret Beckett: Yes, I am proud to be in our Department, which I think is an extremely good Department. I take the hon. Gentleman's point about what presumably concerns him about the phrase "churning of staff", but there is considerable merit—not least in a Department like ours, where there are great synergies across the subject specialties that the Department covers—in people acquiring a range of experience and expertise. We believe that the Department is better for it.

Hugh Bayley (City of York) (Lab): I congratulate the Department on moving the Pesticides Safety Directorate headquarters, the Meat Hygiene Service headquarters and many other DEFRA staff to their brand-new, purpose-built headquarters accommodation at Kings Pool in York, and I congratulate my right hon. Friend on moving the Central Science Laboratory to Sand Hutton in rural North Yorkshire, just outside York.
 
24 Jun 2004 : Column 1435
 
May I remind her that North Yorkshire is the largest rural county in England, and urge her to move further DEFRA jobs there without delay?

Margaret Beckett: The longer the question goes on, the more confident I am that whatever decision is ultimately made, it will be extremely unpopular with large numbers of hon. Members.

Queen Bees

2. Mr. David Cameron (Witney) (Con): What steps she has taken to urge the EU to permit the import of queen bees from Hawaii; and if she will make a statement. [180205]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw): We have approached the European Commission on a number of occasions about the import of queen bees from Hawaii. The trade will be able to resume when the United States can match European standards for bee health controls. I am sure the hon. Gentleman will agree that we must do all we can to protect our bees from foreign pests and diseases, such as the small hive beetle and American foul brood.

Mr. Cameron: Does the Minister share the frustration of my bee-keeping constituent, Mr. Burrows, who wants to import queen bees from Hawaii, as he has done before? Is the Minister aware that the Department has said that Hawaii has a high bee health status? While I am sure he would welcome a fact-finding mission to Hawaii, and I would gladly go with him, will he consult his wall map and see that Hawaii is 1,625 miles from mainland USA? So will he get down to Brussels and tell officials to amend their rules, which are stopping my constituent producing the best honey?

Mr. Bradshaw: I am aware that Hawaii is a very long way away from mainland USA, but I am afraid that Hawaii must be treated as territorially part of the USA for this purpose. I point out to the hon. Gentleman's constituent that there are alternative sources for queen bees: Argentina, New Zealand and Australia, and I understand that Slovenia and Greece, both in the European Union, also produce very fine queens.

Ann Winterton (Congleton) (Con): While the British pig industry has managed to contain the fall in production, which has levelled out at 500,000 tonnes—

Hon. Members: Ask your question.

Pig Industry

3. Ann Winterton (Congleton) (Con): What measures her Department is taking to promote the British pig industry. [180206]

The Minister for the Environment and Agri-environment (Mr. Elliot Morley): The British Pig Executive of the Meat and Livestock Commission is the
 
24 Jun 2004 : Column 1436
 
body responsible for promoting the interests of the British pig industry. My ministerial colleagues and I are happy to support those activities.

Ann Winterton: Queen bees carried me away for a moment, Mr. Speaker.

While the British pig industry has managed to contain the fall in production, which has levelled out at about 500,000 tonnes, with prices remaining sustainable at present, is the Minister aware that pig producers are still under considerable pressure from imported pig and pig-meat products, much of which it would be illegal to produce in the United Kingdom because of our higher animal welfare standards, such as the banning of stall and tether production? Will the Minister therefore support wholeheartedly the National Pig Association's best practice guidelines to be published next month, and encourage retailers and the food service sector alike to sign up to UK sourcing and honesty in the food chain?

Mr. Morley: I understand the point that the hon. Lady makes in relation to the UK pig industry. She is right: it produces meat to high welfare standards. We have been campaigning for the same standards across the EU, and European producers will ultimately meet the UK standards. At present, there is an advantage for UK producers in terms of marketability. In that respect, we warmly welcome the industry's efforts to speak to retailers, and in principle we support its approach to the code of practice. We look forward to talking to the industry to see how we can take matters forward.

Next Section IndexHome Page